CHINA already has the world’s biggest population – and now it’s got a shopping habit to match.

A booming economy has created vast numbers of newly rich Chinese and thousands are flocking to Britain to splash their cash.

Shops here are braced for another surge over the next few weeks as those with money head abroad to mark Chinese New Year, which begins today.

With their country on course to become the world’s biggest economy, the power of the yuan is set to explode.

For decades, we in Britain have got used to seeing Made in China printed on everything from TVs to clothes.

This trading boom has helped make a relatively few people there very well-off – and in a land of 1.3billion, about 960,000 people are already said to be worth more than £1million.

Many are now on a global spending spree, with designer brands from Mulberry and Burberry to Chanel and Louis Vuitton top of their lists.

Tax-free shopping company Global Blue says they were the biggest spending visitors to the UK last year, overtaking Russians, Japanese and Arabs.

The average Chinese shopper spent £729 on each transaction in December. The average Briton parts with just £130 on a day’s shopping trip.

And with most of these visitors buying far more than one item per trip, the total amount is staggering. At Harrods, they spend a reported £3,500 per visit.

Global Blue’s Richard Brown said: “The Chinese love to buy watches, handbags, jewellery and the latest brands for themselves and as gifts. There is lot of cachet in buying from the top shops in London.”

Harrods and Selfridges, which saw hoards of Chinese shoppers at the Boxing Day sales, have recruited Mandarin-speaking staff to guide them to Dior or Gucci rails.

Elsewhere Bicester Village designer discount outlet in Oxfordshire attracts coach loads of Chinese shoppers and there are plans for a £50million holiday village in West Wales.

But it is all part of a wider bonanza for UK firms increasingly reliant on exports to China.

Rolls-Royce said 90% of cars sold last year went abroad, with China overtaking the US as its biggest market.

China, with over £2trillion burning a hole in its pockets, has also been buying or investing in companies around the world.

Last week saw reports of China’s sovereign wealth fund looking to buy a stake of up to 10% in Thames Water.

More than 400 firms there have already bought British businesses. Among our companies either owned or part-owned by Chinese firms are Superdrug, Britain’s largest container port Felixstowe, and car maker MG.

Chancellor George Osborne also flew to Beijing last week to drum-up business. The Centre for Economics and Business Research’s Charles Davis said: “We still call China an emerging market but it has very much arrived. It’s the world’s second-biggest economy.”

There are concerns about China’s dire human rights record but, while the UK and others talk tough about it, they are also keenly aware of the nation’s growing political and economic influence.

As we enter the Year of the Dragon, experts predict the Chinese will breathe fire by buying a FTSE 100 company within 12 months.

Prof Danny Quah of the London School of Economics said: “China’s rising inome will continue to power economic growth in the world, more than that of the US or Western Europe.

“The UK will lag even further behind should we continue to hitch our economic fortunes to those countries that no longer grow.”